


Finding Marlin

by failsafe



Category: Finding Dory (2016), Finding Nemo (2003)
Genre: Anxiety, Bonding, Family, Gen, Memory Loss, Parent-Child Relationship, Parenthood, Platonic Life Partners
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-20
Updated: 2016-12-20
Packaged: 2018-09-10 14:28:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8920657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/failsafe/pseuds/failsafe
Summary: The anemone, the school, the drop-off...





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [HoneyBeez](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HoneyBeez/gifts).



Dory wakes up one morning in a familiar place. At least, she thinks it's familiar. It seems to be the place that she remembers waking up last, though it might just be because she has... just found herself awake here.

She yawns, loudly. She wonders for a minute if it well help her see anything. Was was that called again? Echo—Echolocation!

She knows she knows someone who can do that. She knows she saw someone like that at least once. She propels herself forward in the water just a little bit, and she sees something billowing in front of her. She is very tired, and she does not know if it is time to be awake yet.

She thinks she had better check.

“M... Mom?” she calls.

Mom. She has a 'mom.' Of course she has a mom. All fishes have moms and dads. Well, almost all of them, but she can't remember what the alternatives to that are, if indeed there are any.

“Dory?” A sleepy voice answers her. It sounds light and friendly enough to be a mom's voice at first, but then Dory works her fin around toward her mouth in contemplation. She doesn't think her mom sounds like that. This voice is a little husky to be her mom.

“Yeah, hello!” Dory calls, forgetting that the fact that she feels tired might mean that other fish are still asleep.

“Dory,” says the same voice in a scolding, whining tone.

“Nemo!” Dory realizes. She rushes forward.

“Wait! Dory, don't—” Nemo cautions her – too late.

For a second, everything is...

“Pain,” Dory says aloud.

“Remember, Dory,” Nemo says, swimming against her so he pushes her back out into the water – back out toward where she sleeps. “The anemone stings.”

“Right, right. The anemone stings,” Dory repeats as the little adolescent fish coaches her. She remembers this.

“Yeah, so... wait outside, 'til we...” Nemo starts to explain.

Dory's eyes go wide as she looks left and right. Nemo is alone.

Nemo is alone!

“Hey!” Dory interrupts his train of thought. And hers.

“What?” Nemo asks, clearly shocked into compliance. He backs away from her a little, but she recognizes that it isn't out of fear. She is just loud – excitable – sometimes.

“Marlin!” Dory exclaims. “What about Marlin? You know, your father, Marlin,” she says.

“Yeah, what about 'im?” Nemo asks, sleepily, when he seems to decide that her alarm is nothing to worry about.

“Where is he? He's your dad, and he's usually... here, right?” Dory pursues. She hopes she remembers that right. She hates it when she is afraid she might forget something usual, something normal, something she almost always remembers.

“Yeah, but he said he couldn't sleep. Told me to stay put and he'd be right back,” Nemo says.

“Really?” Dory marvels, panic quelled by this revelation.

She isn't sure, but it doesn't seem very like-Marlin to do that.

 

* * *

 

The next several minutes – or hours, it is hard to tell – are filled with considerable anxiety for Dory. Nemo stays with her, wide awake but seeming a little sluggish. She watches as he circles the anemone. He stops her at the edge of it a few times. She negotiates, and he filters back through the anemone, once again assuring her that Marlin is not still hiding on the inside.

She thinks it happens more than once that he reminds her that no, the anemone did not and would not eat him.

“It's fine, Dory,” Nemo sighs, exasperated.

Dory catches onto the hint in his tone and finally forces herself into a fidgeting sort of calm. By this time, the space around the anemone is a little more bustling with activity. Dory remembers this time of day. She looks around, searching for something to dispel the awkwardness – for herself, or for Nemo, she isn't sure.

“Hey!” she says, drawing her attention upward and hoping his will follow. “Say, isn't it time for school?”

“Yeah, it's time for school,” Nemo says. He seems happy to look at her, but he isn't terribly excited about this announcement. Still, it happens every day for him. He must be used to it by now.

“Well, until your dad gets back... should I take you to school?” Dory asks.

“Sure, Dory,” Nemo says. They swim side by side, and sometimes Nemo gets a little ahead of her. She tries to never lose sight of the familiar orange and white in the warmly filtered shallow darkness of the water. Soon, they arrive at school, where Hank – she remembers Hank – is waiting.

“Mornin' Nemo,” Hank says sullenly. “Mornin' Dory,” he adds.

“Good morning, Hank!” Dory replies. “I brought Nemo to school today.”

“I can see that,” Hank agrees.

“Yes, well, see... _Marlin_ always brings Nemo to school, and this morning... Marlin wasn't in bed. This morning, Marlin was—” Dory explains. Then she gets a little still, a little scared, as her eyes go wide and lose their focus. “Marlin was—where is... oh, I gotta look for him!” 

Suddenly, an orange and white clown fish flits across her field of vision. 

“Marlin!” she cries out, but it's a little too small to be Marlin. Then she sees the little, underdeveloped fin. “Nemo,” she says. She really tries not to sound disappointed. 

“It's okay, Dory. My dad isn't in any trouble. He'll be back,” Nemo assures her. Then, he swims off to join his schoolmates. 

“Well...” Dory tries to agree, finding herself alone with herself to agree or not. “Well...” She swims a circle. 

“Dory!” Charlie's voice rings out. Charlie. Her dad. Dory stops spinning around in a circle and focuses on the familiar blue swimming toward her – two fish of blue with a bit of yellow. She is so happy, in that instant, she thinks she could burst. Not that bursting would be a good thing. “Daddy!” she calls out, and swims over to brush alongside him affectionately. Her mother – Jenny – circles around and does the same. For a moment, she has forgotten anything else but that she has parents. That she found them. That she has a _family_. 

Every time she remembers that, she almost wonders how anyone who remembers that all the time ever really appreciates it. 

“Good morning, Dory!” Jenny – her mom – says. “We came looking for you. We went by your anemone, but no one was home when we got there.” 

“My anemone?” Dory asks. “I _own_ an anemone?” 

“Well,” Charlie says, a little diplomatic, glancing at his mate, “I wouldn't say _own_... and it's actually quite dangerous to _touch_ an anemone if you're... a fish like us, but...” 

“Yes, your anemone,” Jenny corrects Charlie with a gentle nudge. “Your anemone. The one you sleep beside. You know, where your... friend Marlin lives?” 

“Marlin,” Dory repeats. Then, she's afraid again and rises by several inches with confused, flustered purpose. “Marlin!” 

“Wait, wait!” Jenny orders, rising to meet her daughter. 

Jenny and Charlie flank Dory to keep her from speeding off into the murky blue. 

“Hold on, now, Dory,” Charlie coaxes with a look of agreement from Jenny. 

“What is it? What about... Marlin?” Jenny asks in a lower, soothing tone. 

“I can't find him,” Dory says, distressed to the point that it feels like her gills can't filter water fast enough. 

“Dory, it's okay,” Charlie insists. 

“Charlie,” Jenny insists in turn. “Let me handle this.” 

“Jenny, it's just that—” 

“Well, where did you last see him, Dory?” Jenny continues. 

“Well, it was... when we went to sleep. Marlin and Nemo... go in the anemone... and I go to bed,” Dory recites. There is something calming and satisfying about reciting this. Something tells her, every day, that this is the way it has been for a very long time. 

“Oh,” Jenny says. “Oh, I see!” she says, as if she is catching up with some realization from this information. Dory stares at her, focused on the tone. Somehow, Jenny – her mother – seems relieved. “Well, is he still asleep?” 

“I don't think—” Dory says. “No, I don't think he is still sleeping. What if he's—”

“Dory?” Charlie asks. He glances at Jenny, then swims to be a bit ahead of her. “Your mother and I were wondering if you'd like to have breakfast with us. If... If Marlin doesn't turn up by then, we'll help you look for him,” he offers. 

Jenny sinks a few millimeters with relief when she finds that Charlie's proposition is apparently something she can agree to. 

“R-Really?” Dory asks hopefully. 

“Yeah, come on. Your mom and I just wanted to see ya,” Charlie says. 

He swims around her. Her mom swims around her. And then they are off, toward the drop-off but not too dangerously close, to eat some of the tastiest algae she's had in weeks. Well, it could have been weeks. She doesn't remember the last time she ate algae. She thinks she remembers it being good, though. 

 

* * *

After a breakfast of tasty algae, Dory is content. She is almost tempted to go back home – home. Where is home? Oh yeah, the  _anemone_ – but don't touch the anemone, it stings. If only she can remember that when she gets there. 

“Oh, my little girl looks sleepy,” Jenny coos. Then she corrects herself a little. “But you're all grown-up, of course,” she adds. 

Dory doesn't know why, but it makes her feel a little proud when her mom tells her that she is grown-up. She thinks that Nemo must feel the same way when Marlin sometimes shows that he trusts him more than he used to. Marlin. 

“Marlin,” Dory reminds herself out loud. 

“Now, now, stay calm,” Charlie says, swimming back down into view. “I think you'll find him, if you just head... right... over... there...” He jabs a fin in the direction she ought to go, and then Dory sees him. 

She wonders if they had been that close all the time. She wonders how she hadn't seen him. She wonders if her dad hadn't found him if she might never have found Marlin at all. 

He is sitting there, flitting and floating among the rippling, greenish plants that reach up toward the light. He is looking out at the drop-off. 

“Oh no,” Dory says. Then she is darting in a straight line on a collision course with Marlin. She stops just barely short. “Oh no you don't – you can't!” she says with horror. 

“What? Dory?” Marlin cries, alarmed and swimming out of sight. He's quickly back in her field of vision, though. She is so relieved she could cry, if she knew how to cry. “What are you doing here?” 

“You can't leave!” Dory demands. 

“I'm... I'm not _leaving_ ,” Marlin says, appalled by the very idea. 

“You are! You're here, at the drop-off, and whenever someone is at the drop-off that means they're thinking about coming here to...” Dory says, panic rising in her tone and tightening everything about her movements which become jerky, flopping almost, there in the water in front of Marlin. 

“To enjoy the view,” Marlin says simply. 

All at once, Dory is calm again. She marvels at Marlin. He has never made her so calm, so quickly, so effectively before in his entire life. In her entire life. During the entire time they have known each other. She doesn't think he has, anyway. 

“Oh,” Dory says. “Yeah.” She slides up alongside him and looks out into the deepening shades of blue that move in a gradient out, down, beyond. “The view,” she says with a little flit of her tail fin. “What is it we're looking at?” she asks him. 

“Just the view,” Marlin says. There is silence between them for a minute. Dory can't remember if there was anything they needed to talk about. Marlin breaks the silence first. “Sorry. I didn't think it'd scare you,” he volunteers. 

“Scare me?” Dory asks, unassuming. Then she gasps softly, wondering if she ought to feel betrayed. “You _scared_ me?” she asks. 

“No. I mean, yes. I mean, I don't know. I wasn't there,” Marlin says, meeting her gaze. “... Nemo asked if he could go to school this morning on his own. He wasn't mad or anything. I just... thought I had to say yes, but I didn't want him seeing what a mess it might make me. Thinking about him going off... on his own.” 

“He wasn't on his own,” Dory says, matter-of-factly. 

“What?” Marlin asks. 

“Yeah. I asked him if he wanted me to swim him to school this morning. That's kind of weird, now that I think about it, if he wanted to go alone. But he said yes,” Dory explains, dutifully spitting out everything she remembers. 

“Thank you,” Marlin replies earnestly. He looks back out off the drop-off, but he doesn't seem sad or like he's thinking about leaving anymore. Dory isn't sure if he ever did, or if she'd just gotten scared again. 

“No problem!” Dory tells him with verve. 

Another moment of silence passes between them. 

“Hey, Marlin?” Dory asks. She thinks she hasn't asked him this already. At least not today. 

“Yeah, Dory?” 

“When I found you... why'd you stay with me?” 

Marlin seems guilty. Everything about him seems downcast for a moment. 

“Well, Dory, I—” he explains. There are some parts of the story that are less pleasant. Those aren't the parts she is the best at remembering. 

“... We found my parents. _I_ found my parents. But I still stay with you at the stingy-place. The anemone,” Dory explains, trying to undo any damage she's done. “I just wondered... why is that? I could move back with the folks, you know. I think that's a thing people do. Move back in with their folks? Or did they move back in with me. You know, it's kind of fuzzy...” 

“We need you,” Marlin supplies in the midst of her rambling, loudly enough to cut through it. 

“Really?” Dory asks, marveling. 

“Yeah. I think we do,” Marlin says. “When... I lost Coral... and the rest,” he says, with careful practice that she thinks is probably older than she has any idea about, “I didn't want to trust anybody. I didn't want to let anyone near Nemo but me. But he... trusts you. And you taught me. Yeah, we need you.” 

“... Wow,” Dory says as she takes it in. She hopes she didn't lose any of it in transmission, or translation, or whatever, because it seems like some really nice stuff to take in. “Thanks. You know, Marlin... I'm glad I found you.” 

“Me t—” Marlin starts to reply, but Dory forgets that he might answer and interrupts him instead. 

“If I hadn't, who knows! You might have been on the other side of the ocean by now. And then what would we do...” she says, constructing an elaborate, frightening scenario in her mind, while she stays put by a clown fish who says he needs her. 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I really hope you enjoyed this fic, HoneyBeez! Happy Yuletide! It occurred to me, as a Millennial-type person that our social programming leads us to believe that in Disney films that usually the unpaired male/female protagonists will end up together in the end unless there's a very strong reason why-not. However, it occurred to me in adulthood, that I didn't really understand what Marlin and Dory's relationship was supposed to be. Then, I saw Finding Dory, and it sort of felt like they sort of have an adult-bond and sort of a protector/protectee bond and sort of a partner-bond. I was really taken with that because I think it's rare and valuable. I also tried to deal with various family bonds and nurturing relationships including, of course, Dory and her lovely parents. 
> 
> Thank you to any and all who read!


End file.
